Help with clock identification

OK, this is probably not what you think. I thought I'd crowd-source this and see if anyone can explain what's going onwith the dial of this clock. I participate in a clock forum after becoming interested in 400-day clocks. In the general area of the forum, someone posted a picture of this clock and asked for some explanation. Apparently, the clock was donated to the Oakland Aviation Museum and was owned by United Airlines. As you can see, the name is United Air Lines Transport Corporation, so it goes back a ways. The clock was made by Telechron if anyone wanted to know.

Any theories as to what the lettering is all about on the outer portion of the dial? I just can't figure out what it could be. I've asked a lot of pilots and even had someone ask at the FAA. I figured I might try this esteemed group!

Thanks...

Well, my dear father would have told me, "For to make little boys ask questions." Sorry, that's the best I can come up with too.

If I told you, I would have to kill ya .

Kurt,

Just an observation; The first letter in the pairs of letters, P, M, and C, could corrrespond with Pacific, Mountain, and Central time zones. The second letter in the pairs, N, S, E, and W, could correspond to, North, South, East, and West.

Why? I dunno. What is the purpose? Beats me. Maybe it had something to do with how they numbered their flights. Or maybe it's a secret decoder ring or a cheap enigma machine.

Lee -

The N-E-W-S was relative clear, but hadn't thought about Pacific Mountain Central. Hmmm...what about the east coast time zone, though? What was United's route in say the 1950s? Could it only have been the three time zones and not the east coast? Doesn't really make sense...

If you hear a good explanation from someone outside this Forum, please share it with us.

Well, I'm kinda stuck. I've asked my Dad, a former pilot, I've asked cousins who have contacts at the FAA and another who may have flown with United Airlines and so far I've gotten nothing but shoulder shrugs. It's definitely some kind of secret code as Lee suggested!

I know about Telechron clocks...they were quite prolific. But, it might be worthwhile to register for their forum and ask there. I'm doing that. I'll report back!!

I am a retired pilot and have forwarded the picture to all my pilot friends. Several, including my brother (Delta) are airline captains. One in particular who is a Southwest captain replied that he has smoke coming out of his ears because it is driving him crazy! So we are all looking forward to an answer. Maybe it was designed to just make us all go nuts looking at it.

Thanks, Jim. That is the kind of crowd sourcing I was hoping to find!

Random thoughts:

I doubt Telechron can help, I think that is just standard clock with a custom face made to United Air Lines specifications. Probably need someone with knowledge of UAL historical procedures to de-code.

How big is this clock? Wall clock or (more likely)cockpit mount?

Outer ring of minute numbers are separated by lines, except 0-4 which are separated by W X Y Z?

Larry -

I'm pretty sure this is a wall clock of some kind...not something in the aircraft. I too noticed the variations around the dial as you did. Other parts of it seem to be symmetric but these variances kind of throw a kink in the works. Also, why the gap at 25, 26, and 27...and the non symmetry at 4:15 and 10:15?

I am now intrigued as well.
I sent a copy of the picture to United Airlines directly and to RUPA-Retired United Airlines Pilots Association. Will let you know if I hear from anyone.

Got one answer back just now from RUPA:

"The clock--some time back, was found and went around via e-mail, and the best anyone could figure out, by a retired Western Airlines pilot, was that it was used in the '30's.

No one really understood the codes other than they were either stations, or waypoints along routes.

Best I can do with short notice. Thinking the clock was at an Oakland, CA Museum. Hope this undoes some confusion."

Well, that's a start, anyway.....

Thanks, rocket. That's where this started...someone at the Oakland museum posed the question to my clock forum in hopes of finding an answer. Interesting feedback, though!

From Wikipedia (yeah, I know!), in 1929 William Boeing merged with Pratt & Whitney to form the "United Aircraft and Transport Corporation". That's similar to what's on the front of the clock but a little different. Then in 1934, the company separate into three entities - United Aircraft, Boeing Airplane Company, and United Air Lines. It's not clear when it became United Airlines. There's a 1940s route map and it still shows "United Air Lines". The main United route in the 1940s was up and down the west coast from Seattle to San Diego and then direct to the east coast through Omaha, Chicago, Cleveland, and New York. There were supporting airlines that veered from that major route to service other cities.

I know that the call letters for Portland are PDX and Salt Lake City is SLC. I believe San Francisco is SFO. San Diego is SAN. Oakland is OAK. I wonder if there's some connection with those symbols and the cities they served at the time.

For example, PD and SL could be the routing between Portland and Salt Lake City. OA and SL could be the routing between Oakland and Salt Lake City. SL-CG-SI could be Salt Lake City to Cleveland (Cuyahoga Airport is CGF) to SI (not sure what SI could be). A bit of a stretch but the New York Long Island airport is Islip or ISP.

Route map in 1940s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines#/media/File:UAL_Route_Map_1940.jpg

What the heck is "SQ" between 4 and 5:00 then?

Yeah, I don't know...I was certainly reaching.

I shared this with my son, a computer engineer. He said:

i wonder if the time coding was a means to classify messages into the
times when they should be sent, i.e. northbound flights could
broadcast during certain minutes but not others.

assigning letters to the hours on the clock face seems a transparent
way to represent times in text, maybe as that "alpha charlie tango"
speak.

I have a lot of feelers out there...

Just got this from The Airline Pilot's Historical Society:

"Wow, what a piece of work. I have never seen anything like that, so I'll make a wild stab at a guess. It could be a master security guard clock, showing inspection locations during certain times of the day, on different guard's shifts. It's electric so it has to be wall mounted, not carried by a guard.

The United Aircraft and Transport Corporation was formed in 1929, so it's really old. Nick."

Our sincere thanks.
Capt. Nick Louis, UAL, Ret.
Chairman, Airline Pilot's Historical Society